British theatre wows the US Oscars crowd

British theatre wows the US Oscars crowd

British theatre wows the US Oscars crowd

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Natalie Portman

Wideawake club: Natalie Portman and Matt Damon have seen Sleep No More

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Matt Damon

Wideawake club: Natalie Portman and Matt Damon have seen Sleep No More

Wideawake club: Natalie Portman and Matt Damon have seen Sleep No More

A small London theatre company has taken New York by storm with stars such as Natalie Portman, Tobey Maguire and Matt Damon joining the audiences for its interactive show.

Punchdrunk's production Sleep No More, which opened in March, is a mixture of Macbeth and an Alfred Hitchcock cinematic experience.

The show was originally scheduled to run for six weeks in three abandoned warehouses in downtown Manhattan which have been turned into an abandoned Thirties hotel The McKittrick.

But Sleep No More has been extended three times and will now run until September. First staged in London in 2003, it is the latest British theatrical triumph in New York following the Tony award-winning Jerusalem.

The show appeals to celebrities partly because audience members wear masks to conceal their identities as they move around the hotel's six floors in search of performers and props.

Justin Timberlake, Orlando Bloom, Spike Lee, Baz Luhrmann and the Olsen twins have all seen the production, and Florence and the Machine played an impromptu gig in the hotel's bar.

Punchdrunk's artistic director Felix Barrett said of the audiences: "One weekend it was like the Oscars." He added: "New Yorkers are far more intent on gleaning every bit of information, be it shadowing the cast or rifling through every cupboard or every wardrobe. Londoners have a sense of distance and stiff upper lip."

Punchdrunk spent no money on advertising in New York and has also raised eyebrows with its recruiting policy. Mr Barrett said: "One of my colleagues was on the subway and heard this guy busking. He was a drummer who sings and he was amazing and he now has a residency with us."

Sleep No More is the largest and most successful show for Punchdrunk, which was formed in 2000. Mr Barrett said: "Our dream is to open something double the size of this next spring in London. After 11 years of doing this work, we need to start taking risks."